Twitter steps back in time after auspol

As the nation waits for electoral officials to finally work out who won the federal election, Australia's Twitterati are taking a step back in time.

They've resurrected the hashtag #auswaits from 2010 when Julia Gillard took more than a fortnight to seal a deal with the Greens and independents so her minority Labor could govern.

While there's still a healthy number of tweets featuring the ever-popular #auspol and #ausvotes, the #auswaits has emerged as voters to try to make sense of the confusion about whether the coalition will return to government.

"We're in limbo but there's so many potential consequences and scenarios in terms of government and each of the parties' leaders," he told AAP.

"I think we're bedding in for the long haul and that will give #auswaits a really big nudge. It's back and back with a vengeance!"

The #auswaits emerged from #ausvotes as Australians awaited the outcome of lengthy negotiations between Ms Gillard and crossbench MPs following the August 2010 election that resulted in a hung parliament.

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After Ms Gillard locked in their support, #auswaits transformed into #auspol which has since become the third biggest political hashtag in the world.

Outspoken Tasmanian independent Senator Jacqui Lambie was one of the first politicians to revamp #auswaits on Sunday when she tweeted her thanks to supporters and added a picture of grinning Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

Since then there's been plenty of Twitter talk about her fellow senators-elect Derryn Hinch and Pauline Hanson, the painful wait for votes to be counted, and the prospect of yet another election.

During the eight-week election campaign, voters took to Twitter to express their indecision while politicians sought to attract support with their inside views of the campaign trail.

On election day, the mood was upbeat with 122 million views of #ausvotes-related tweets and a plethora of cupcake and sausage emojis.

There was a #democracysausage in celebration of the polling booth sausage sizzle every second while votes were cast between 8am and 6pm.

But once the voting booths closed on Saturday night, the mood shifted to dismay and confusion, with scary, wide-eyed shock and crying face emojis appearing in tweets.

"They're a fun and insightful indication of the mood," Mr Harley said.